Will Vega, Calderón and Martínez play for Chivas Guadalajara again?

Alexis Vega, Cristian Calderón and Raúl Martínez were this week allowed to return to Chivas Guadalajara training, but their route back into the team remains unclear. The trio will again play no part for Chivas on Friday, as Veljko Paunovic’s side visit Puebla in the Liga MX’s Apertura 2023 tournament.

Bad boys left behind in Guadalajara

Vega, Calderón and Martínez were not among the 22 players who travelled to Puebla on Thursday, ahead of the matchday-13 clash at the Estadio Cuauhtémoc. They haven’t featured for Chivas since breaking squad rules after the club’s 1-1 draw away to Toluca at the beginning of October, with reports stating that they were caught sneaking women into the team hotel.

Chivas unable to tear up Vega, Calderón deals

The players were fined and banished from the first-team squad, with club sources revealing that Chivas’ president, Amaury Vergara, was eager to terminate Vega and Calderón’s contracts right away, as this was not their first offence.

However, FIFA rules do not allow Chivas to unilaterally rip up the pair’s contracts. In the absence of an agreement with either Vega or Calderón over the termination of their deals, the decision was made to reintegrate them into first-team training, together with Martínez. It remains unknown, though, whether head coach Paunovic will consider picking the threesome again.

Tigres squad will give truer indication of trio’s Chivas chances

It is possible that Vega, Calderón and Martínez have simply been omitted from the Puebla game over fitness concerns, given that they missed two weeks of training after being exiled from the squad. Their prospects of reviving their Chivas careers will become clearer when Paunovic names his matchday group for the 12-time Mexican champions’ next Apertura 2023 game, at home to Tigres on 28 October.

The chief new faces in Chivas’ squad to face Puebla are Jesús Gilberto Orozco Chiquete and Erick Gutiérrez, who had both missed Los Rojiblancos’ recent games due to injury.

Puebla vs Chivas: when, where, how to watch

Chivas face Puebla at the Estadio Cuauhtémoc today, Friday 20 October 2023, with kick-off scheduled for 11pm ET/8pm PT. Viewers in the US will be able to watch the Apertura 2023 regular-season clash on ViX and fuboTV.

Guadalajara head into the game sitting sixth in the table, having returned to the Liga MX’s automatic playoff qualification spots with a 4-1 victory over city rivals Atlas on 8 October. Meanwhile, Puebla lie 13th in the standings, three points outside of the postseason play-in places.

Enjoy Puebla vs Chivas on fuboTV, which offers users a free trial.